Editorials
Alternative career paths should be celebrated, not seen as a compromise.
doi: 10.1038/537585a
We need to know what the 1.5 °C warming target will involve — even if we don’t reach it.
doi: 10.1038/537585b
United Nations conference on cities needs to set goals for the next 20 years.
doi: 10.1038/537586a
News
Construction of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) is complete, but debugging has only just begun.
doi: 10.1038/537593a
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative aims to have major impact by 2100.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2016.20649
Genetic analyses of endangered animals reveal high level of interbreeding with hardier American species.
doi: 10.1038/537596a
Worries include how to coordinate research programmes and resources from different countries.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2016.20658
Former Soviet nation bids for independence from Russian fossil fuels.
doi: 10.1038/537598a
Research struggles in a country in economic free-fall.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2016.20670
News Features
Tensions between Cuba and the United States are easing. But researchers still struggle to join the scientific world.
doi: 10.1038/537600a
News & Views
Crossing different plant varieties to improve yield and fertility is common practice. A dissection of the genomic architecture that underlies such hybrid vigour might help to inform future crop-improvement strategies. See Article p.629
doi: 10.1038/nature19433
A technique that combines magnetic resonance with nuclear medicine has been used to image the distribution of a radioactive tracer, potentially opening up a powerful and innovative approach to medical imaging. See Letter p.652
doi: 10.1038/537621a
An unexpected function has been assigned to part of the molecular machinery that synthesizes the bacterial cell wall — a dramatic shift in our understanding that may have major implications for antibiotic development. See Article p.634
doi: 10.1038/537622a
Interventions to improve crop yields in rural China through collaboration between researchers and farmers illustrate how the goal of increasing global food production can be approached locally. See Letter p.671
doi: 10.1038/nature19431
Carbon emissions from the Arctic tundra could increase drastically as global warming thaws permafrost. Clues now obtained about the long-term effects of such thawing on carbon dioxide emissions highlight the need for more data.
doi: 10.1038/537625a
Disturbances in internal water equilibrium can be debilitating for mammals. Two studies pinpoint areas of the mouse brain that respond to and anticipate thirst, preserving systematic fluid regulation. See Letters p.680 & p.685
doi: 10.1038/537626a
The emergence of complex, dynamic molecular behaviour might have had a role in the origin of life. Such behaviour has now been seen in a reaction network involving small, organic, self-replicating molecules of biological relevance. See Letter p.656
doi: 10.1038/537627a
Articles
Insights into the genomic architecture of heterosis for grain yield in rice are presented, and further mapping of grain yield loci resolves candidate genes that could be useful for breeding.
doi: 10.1038/nature19760
SEDS proteins are core peptidoglycan polymerases involved in bacterial cell wall elongation and division.
doi: 10.1038/nature19331
Respirasomes are supercomplexes of mitochondrial electron transport chain complexes that are responsible for cellular respiration and energy production; a cryo-electron microscopy structural study of the respirasome is presented.
doi: 10.1038/nature19359
Respirasomes are supercomplexes of mitochondrial electron transport chain complexes that are responsible for cellular respiration and energy production; cryo-electron microscopy structures of mammalian (sheep) respirasomes are presented.
doi: 10.1038/nature19774
Letters
Long-term pre- and post-eruption observations of the classical nova V1213 Centauri reveal that its progenitor was a dwarf nova and that the mass-transfer rate increased considerably as a result of the nova explosion.
doi: 10.1038/nature19066
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides fine spatial resolution, spectral sensitivity and a rich variety of contrast mechanisms for diagnostic medical applications. Nuclear imaging using γ-ray cameras offers the benefits of using small quantities of radioactive tracers that seek specific targets of interest within the body. Here we describe an imaging and spectroscopic modality that combines favourable aspects of both approaches. Spatial information is encoded into the spin orientations of tiny amounts of a polarized radioactive tracer using pulses of both radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation and magnetic-field gradients, as in MRI. However, rather than detecting weak radio-frequency signals, imaging information is obtained through the detection of γ-rays. A single γ-ray detector can be used to acquire an image; no γ-ray camera is needed. We demonstrate the feasibility of our technique by producing images and spectra from a glass cell containing only about 4 × 1013 atoms (about 1 millicurie) of the metastable isomer 131mXe that were polarized using the laser technique of spin-exchange optical pumping. If the cell had instead been filled with water and imaged using conventional MRI, then it would have contained more than 1024 water molecules. The high sensitivity of our modality expands the breadth of applications of magnetic resonance, and could lead to a new class of radioactive tracers.
doi: 10.1038/nature19775
A few-component network of biologically relevant, organic reactions displays bistability and oscillations, without an enzymatic catalyst.
doi: 10.1038/nature19776
An artificial metalloenzyme is compartmentalized and evolved in vivo for olefin metathesis—an archetypal organometallic reaction without equivalent in nature; the evolved metathase reveals broad substrate scope and compares favourably with commercial catalysts.
doi: 10.1038/nature19114
Trace-element analyses of olivine phenocrysts and diamond inclusions indicate that carbonatite-metasomatized subcontinental mantle may be the source of the HIMU mantle end-member, as opposed to recycled basaltic oceanic crust.
doi: 10.1038/nature19113
The authors report on attempts to increase the yield of smallholder farms in China using ten practices recommended by the Science and Technology Backyard for farming maize and wheat at county level.
doi: 10.1038/nature19368
Heterozygous Chd8 mutant mice display autistic-like behaviours and small but global changes in brain gene expression, which are associated with delays in neuronal development.
doi: 10.1038/nature19357
Feedback from the oral cavity to thirst-promoting neurons in the subfornical organ (SFO) during eating and drinking is integrated with information about blood composition, providing a prediction of how oral consumption will affect fluid balance and leading to changes in behaviour.
doi: 10.1038/nature18950
Clock neurons projecting from the suprachiasmatic nucleus activate a thirst-related brain area in mice to cause a surge in drinking just before sleep and thereby to prevent dehydration during the sleep period.
doi: 10.1038/nature19756
The assembly and analysis of complete genomes and large genomic fragments have tripled the number of known ocean viruses and uncovered the potentially important roles they play in nitrogen and sulfur cycling.
doi: 10.1038/nature19366
Yeast central carbon metabolism has been engineered to achieve a more efficient isoprenoid biosynthesis pathway, an advance that brings commodity-scale production of such compounds a step closer.
doi: 10.1038/nature19769
Stem cells generate progenitors that transition through a series of dynamically unstable states with mixed-lineage gene expression, culminating in the specification of cell-fate.
doi: 10.1038/nature19348